USAA and USAA Casualty originally requested an average statewide increase of 40 percent for their homeowner insurance rates in Florida. Following a public hearing on September 26th and the issuance of a notice of intent to disapprove the filing, the company amended its filing and lowered the overall rate requests to 16.3 percent.

The Office's notice of intent to disapprove cited a number of areas where the requests were not adequately supported. These included USAA and USAA Casualty using an outdated private catastrophe model and failing to support an additional profit load of 10 percent.

"While the rate I approved is far less than what the company originally requested, I am fully aware that it is still going to have a significant impact on the pocketbooks of USAA's policyholders," said Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty. However, the filing has been rigorously reviewed, and it is fully justified.